Yeah... I find that I'm more attracted to become an architect but now I'm going to coaching classes for medicine entrance. Which is better? Becoming a doctor or an architect? Basically I'm an above average student. Memorising power is low for me. But I'm creative. I love doing new things and studying more about the unknown. I don't know what to choose. I love to be a doctor and also an architect. I don't know in which I would be more happier in my life. All that matters me is that I need to be happy in my future, money is not a matter, I have strength and can work hard for living but I need to be happy. So please help me choose a career... Please.. 

Yeah...  I know my decision will be so important both for me and my family. My family encourages me to become a doctor. That's what they consider a good job. But for me, I think it's not the job that matters but how much dedicated or passionate you are for it. I would always love to see myself as a doctor, treating patients but nowadays it's totally like a new business. Instead of looking forward for the development of standard and health of people, doctors make money making more patients. It's one parameter which I dislike being a doc... But to cherish as an architect and the develpments and progression in that field is very low and society treats it in another way. I don't understand what's happening with me... Please do say an opinion... 

Don't worry too much, my uneducated guess is that you'll neither be a doctor nor an architect in the end.

You can be an architect with an undergraduate degree. You'll need to do an additional decade of schooling to become an MD. I don't think you've done your research.

Well, my brother in law did 2 years of Architecture school before completing his medical degree.  Went on to running his own clinic ( took over my Father in law's business ) I would never say that he has been successful in the traditional sense ( money and prestige ) But it has afforded him a decent lifestyle and many trips and time for himself which he uses remarkably well .... building boats, guitars, canoes, cabins, photography, furniture at a very high level.  He just didn't like the weirdness of of architecture school education ( I agree it was a bit wacky at times ) and recognized where his "bread was buttered" and what profession would allow him to live his life in fashion he wished.

Personally I could never see myself being a doctor, I figure you are either an "Architect" through and through or not.  It's in your DNA. 

It's the people who get attracted to the field. Medical and legal get all the workaholics who would be doing great in any profession. Architecture gets all the artists who consider actual work selling out.

Hello everyone. I can see the confusion and the dichotomy of this subject. First, I'll introduce myself in this forum. I'm Prof. Preyan, Faculty of Architecture and am an Architect, based in India. I mentioned the origin, to contextualise myself. As an Indian Architect, we're paid lesser than in any other developed countried. But, this isn't about being paid. It is about-

Doctors VS Architects

The problem with this topic, is really about the lack of Public Awareness. Everybody is arguing that- Architects aren't paid well. And this leads to the direct conclusion- Because they aren't as important as Doctors. To live a good life, a Human needs, Food, Shelter and Clothes. Three basic neccessities of being a Human. Shelter, once made by the people who used to live in it, now are built by Contractors and so on. Shelter, or our Physical Environment, is as Important as our Socio-Cultural Environment. It is like, we are discussing and debating as to what is better/ important- Hardware or Software??

Doctors have been considered highly as Healers, and even religiously are considered highly as they deal with Human Bodies and their Healthcare. Now, I know haters will be haters and not everybody is going to be satisfied with the reasoning I'm going to put, but it is what it is. Architects and Doctors, are equally Important for our Societies. Because, they both Center around- Human Anatomy. The arguments, which I've read in this thread are valid only if you look at them superficially. Several important reasons as to why I make that statement.

1. Origin of the field

Homo Sapiens, have always needed Food and Shelter since their origin. Shelter in terms of Houses and Clothes. But, the Field of Medicine only started to evolve, once diseases started to spread and we wanted to survive. The diseases, which were actually caused by the Things we ate, Places where we lived etc. Lifestyle, habits and such factors started to develop certain diseases at a really later stage. This emergence of Fields, which developed over time, really tells you one important characteristic of being an Architect- You are Responsible for Preventing a lot of Diseases to enter the Spaces you design. And, Architecture in its Conception existed before the Healing.

2. Passive and Active Healing

Doctors claim that they treat you, they heal you, but do they really? After all, they only consult, diagnose and prescribe you the Medicines, developed by Huge Industries, Tested on Rats (not literally anymore?). They diagnose you, for the symptoms they've learned through their books. Based on which they prescribe the medicine. They Heal you Actively, through the medium of Medicines, targetting the cells inside your body. Now, let us understand what Architects do and how they Heal us through their interventions. They design and are responsible, making a Physical World, where we can live our lives. We, stay protected from Rains, Snowfalls, Floods, Heatstrokes, Plagues, Insects, Harsh climates, so on so forth. Architects' designs protects from the diseases from happening in the first place. And keeps on doing it, passively, without telling you what they are doing for you, all the time. Architects design, based on the understanding of the Site, Climate and the Program of the Clients. Architects don't prescribe a Product, architects design specifically for you and your requirements. 

We aren't even talking about the adverse effects of the Physical World on our Psychology and Physiology. We aren't discussing the facts that why the number of Consultants, who psychologically study you and "prescribe" you, "medicines" has increased with the increase of Lifestyle changes, and the ways our Physical World is changing, impacting us. 

All in all, both the fields are equally important, no matter how you look at it. Looking at the fields, from a Payscale factor is certainly not "heathly", and if you think it is healthy to judge the importance of field based on payscale, then "consult" with a doctor, today! I'm sure, they'll have a medicine for the same.

I believe that training as a doctor is much more serious than training as an architect

Two of my best friends are doctors in a general practice so let me share with you all the things that bother them about their career.

1. Most patients that you spend most of your time with do not get better and this can be both frustrating and depressing.

2. You are on call many hours as a doctor.

3. Doctors are scheduled for more patient visits than you can reasonably handle in a 10 hour day, the day typically with visit, paperwork/charts and research can be 13-14 hours regularly.

4. Doctors can experience quite a lot of job insecurity as their patients can jump ship for the new doctors that tell them what they want to hear and not what they need to hear, also the nature of the work opens you up to opportunities for harassment claims.

5. There is a committee for everything, from the font on the letter head to the pronouns to address patients and staff with and it is difficult and time consuming to keep up with the internal policies and procedures.

6. like architects doctors also have continuing education requirements but if those seminars are sponsored by device or pharmaceutical companies (as most of them are) then they have a lot of reporting that has to be done per the Affordable Care Act.

We Architects often look at other professions with a "grass must be greener over there" mentality but in some ways we have it easy and in others we have a tough row to hoe. Both of my friends on balance love their work and could not imagine another career.

Over and OUT

Peter N

Granted I went to a big state school where almost everyone that got in was fairly bright compared to the average American, but I'd argue architecture school is pretty hard to "fail". Studio work doesn't involve any legitimate knowledge benchmarks, its concepts are subjective in nature. Is architecture school easy? No. But almost everyone who doesn't come out of the other end quit on their own accord or got caught blatantly plagiarizing or cheating along the way. While some people make architecture school an absolute gauntlet effort wise to get an A there are some people who just coast, take their B & move on.

Medical school, however, involves exam after exam testing rote memory. If you don't pass the exams, you don't move on.

That difference is probably the reason their are so many architecture grads who are unlicensed professionals & you don't hear about unlicensed med school grads very often. Med schools will kick you out if they don't think you'll become a doctor, architecture schools let the designers finish.

I’ve heard at some point can’t remember where...”There are 2 different types of professions, ones that preserve life, and ones that make life worth living”

One thing I noticed over the past decade plus (speaking from personal observation), architects tend to have this obsession of comparing with doctors. First, these are two completely different professions. Just because you are a good architect (or architecture school graduate) doesn't mean you are a going to be good at being a doctor. The same is true also vice versa. 

While the medical profession is broad but if you have problems with the sight of blood or other not so pleasant smells and stuff that you may have to deal with in the medical field. If you plan to do surgery, if you puke at the sight of blood and such, you most certainly do not want to be in this profession. First test, if you have difficulty with the work involved after hunting a deer or elk, cleaning out the guts and such, if that bothers you, you don't want to be a surgeon. There's a big difference between being a surgeon from the games. It's not only the sight but smell. It's not like the toy games. Under no circumstances am I claiming being able to handle the aforementioned stuff you may need to do after taking down an elk or deer, will make you a good doctor or surgeon. 

Being a doctor doesn't always entail the same issues or areas of medical practice. 

If you are looking at this because of envy regarding money, you have some issues to work out with yourself. The price for services of any profession is relative to supply and demand. To a degree, being an architect or building designer means you are providing services in connection with work subject to demand. What we design is to a degree merely vanity of a sort. Do we NEED to build? Long-term, yes perhaps. Not necessarily. It depends on whether the need is that important enough to invest the money. A lot of projects are not as important. When the financial resources are tights, vanity is set aside to what is more important in the immediate. So our designed vanity projects may get postponed or cancelled. When money is tight, our clients will not be as much in demand of design/architectural services, especially when coupled with concerns related to uncertainty. Now, doctors and medical care are always in demand unless there is a sudden massive population loss. 

The problem in our field is, there may be insufficient demand for the supply of design professionals offering such services and because of competition, there is the nature of competitors lowering prices in order to entice the client to select them. Now you can argue thatyou don't lower price tag face value but increase value. That is also a form of price cutting. What you are doing is bundling. It would end up with doing more work for no difference in price. You are effectively working for less per hour. You can only take that so far before you basically burn out and get disillusioned with the profession. Architecture/Building design is not a super lucrative field. There are other fields that may be more lucrative for the artistic/creative designer-type persons. 

As to what Jawknee said, ignore it as stupid. Medical doctors are real careers and involve various disciplines. A surgeon is a type of medical doctor.